GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Gettysburg's men's soccer team doesn't rank among the Centennial Conference leaders in any statistic. And yet, the Bullets are in the postseason, facing a familiar opponent in Johns Hopkins University.
Gettysburg (5-9-2, 4-3-2 CC) has less overall wins than all but the bottom two teams in the end-of-season conference standings and the team ranks in the bottom half of every statistical category. Conference tournament top seed Swarthmore College (14-1-2, 7-0-2 CC) has nearly as many goals (43) as Gettysburg has points (51).
However, contrary to the numbers, the Bullets have displayed a determination that belies the general youth of the team. Gettysburg entered the fall with only three seniors on the roster, less than any other conference playoff team, and eight freshmen have played in at least 10 matches this fall. Among those three seniors, only
Teddy Smith (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) will be able to take the field in Wednesday's match at Johns Hopkins.
Smith himself was sidelined early in the season, but he along with several other key contributors helped boost Gettysburg into the playoffs with a late-season surge. Over the last six conference contests, the Bullets posted a record of 3-1-2 and clinched a postseason spot with a 4-1 victory over McDaniel College on the final day of the regular season.
The Bullets out-scored their opponents 12-6 over the final six matches of the year with eight different players tallying a goal. Junior
Eric Hynes (Far Hills, N.J./Pingry School) led the team with five goals, including three game-winners, while Smith dished out a trio of assists to go with a goal.
Now the Orange and Blue are headed on a collision course with its usual playoff nemesis in fourth seed Johns Hopkins (12-3-3, 5-2-2 CC). From 2005 to 2008, the Bullets and Blue Jays met every year in the CC Tournament with three contests going into overtime. Johns Hopkins has advanced past Gettysburg in each of the teams' last three postseason meetings, including a 4-1 victory in the 2007 tournament finale.
In the regular season, the Blue Jays posted a 1-0 victory at Clark Field on Oct. 27. Johns Hopkins out-shot the hosts 23-10, but Gettysburg was far from out of the contest, coming inches away from a tie when freshman Andrew LaFontaine's (Summit, N.J./Pingry) shot with 1:33 left grazed the outside of the left post.
The last time the two teams met at Homewood Field, Gettysburg knocked off the then 18th-ranked Blue Jays 3-2 in 2009. The Bullets also won the regular-season meeting in 2008 (3-1) before Johns Hopkins won 2-1 in overtime in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
The winner of Wednesday's match draws host Swarthmore in the second semifinal slated for Saturday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m. The first semifinal between second seed Franklin & Marshall College (9-3-3, 5-1-3 CC) and third seed Muhlenberg College (10-1-6, 5-1-3 CC) will take place at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The Centennial Conference championship and the conference's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Tournament will be determined at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 7.
